European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 12, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Action from Page 1 be wrong a said army col. Ronald Joe the commandant of the defense equal Opportunity management Institute at Patrick fab Pensacola Fla. A some people have actually misused it a by putting people up for promotion or in positions they were not Qualk fied for and using them As examples when they fail a to say a see i told you women  do that. Or minorities  do  v a it happened a he said. A it was not the concept of affirmative action  said that kind of misuse of affirmative action Hasni to happened in the military in a probably 15 or 20  he also said quotas Are a misapplication and misunderstanding of How the department of defense envisions and implements the concept of affirmative action. A a. Quot a a a a.-. A no no no no there Are no quotas its All about people being qualified not about people who Are less qualified being Given advantage Over those who Are qualified a Joe said. Navy it. Paul Mattola an instructor from Deomi explained How people Are promoted in a military environment that according to the Clinton administration has the a most outstanding affirmative action program in the United states. During one seminar workshop he listed a group of individuals represented by a  so and a a of so whose performance scores ranged arbitrarily from 95 to the Low 70s. Only those who scored higher than 80 were considered qualified candidates for the position. The two highest scores belonged Tox a which represented a no minority group. The third Mihest score belonged to an of a minority. Mattola explained that the o might be selected Over one of the two higher xes if the percentage of of a in that position was disproportionately Low. However he said the Board Wasny to automatically obligated to promote the o Over thex a. Mattola said a if of a had been selected in the last three promotion cycles the Board would probably decide in this Case to promote an  he added that the Board would never promote anybody below the Standard and would select Only qualified individuals even if the Only o was below the Standard of 80. A people Arentt totally convinced that affirmative action is always implemented the Way its presented a added Mattola. A a there a a lot of Energy out there about promotion boards especially for folks who have been up for one and Haven to made the Cut. They say a i done to know i buy the concept and if it works that Way that a great. I think its important that it works that Way but i gotta Feci there a quotas  a but without question every person in be asked who has sat on the promotion boards says a no. They re absolutely  by and Large every time we look the mix is there because race and gender Are not related to ability and skills. They re just not. If we have the work Force Pool to draw from the mix. A. A. A amps Carlos Bonglo annl Navy it. Paul Mattola demonstrates with xes. And of show the military uses affirmative action a a method the Clinton administration Calls a most  gender a she said. A that translates into racial and gender preferences which while they May not always be quotas Are just As bad in that they focus on racial characteristics a you re Black so you get this or  Hernstrom labelled herself an advocate of a a completely color Blind Constitution who would like to see an end to All racial classifications and All sort in by race ethnicity and  however she has a somewhat different stance on affirmative action in the military. A the military a program is quite different from any other and one i can live with a she said. A there really Isnit any fudging of qualifications. There a no equivalent to what goes on at the University of California at Berkeley and other schools around the  at Berkeley she said there Are vast differences Between the qualifications for White and asian students and Black and hispanic students in terms of the Grade Point average and sat scores that Are required to get in. A a there a a Gap of almost 300 Points Between the sat scores Blacks and hispanics need to get in and the scores that Whites and asians need a she said. A in so Many contexts we say a we know you re not ready you Don t meet the qualifications but that Sok a those qualifications done to apply to you because of the color of your skin a she said. V a the military a program is different in that everyone must meet virtually the same standards a Hernstrom said. A a it a a much softer program that a oriented toward gelling people fully trained and ready to do their jobs no matter what color they  As the Battle Over affirmative action rages in the United slates some arc wondering How it will affect the military if it is lifted As mandatory Public policy. \. Joe said he believes the us. Military is on the right Side of the Battle and probably  do As Well without affirmative action. A the affirmative action piece is the result of a continuing presence of discrimination that still exists in our society a he said. Contributing to this report staff writer Chuck Vinch in Washington a amps Carlos Bongioanni army sgt. 1st class Robert Bailey came away from the equal Opportunity conference with new insights about affirmative action. Is there a sgt. 1st class Robert Bailey from the 3rd support in in Weinfurt Germany attended the conference and said his eyes were opened. A in essence i did no to really think about affirmative action being tied in so much with equal Opportunity a remarked Bailey. A before this seminar affirmative action was something that i really came Here wanting to get defined. I wanted to understand what exactly affirmative action was intended to do. I think that a what a lot of people have lost a the intent of what it  Bailey said the conference a brought out into the Light and clarified for him the original intent of affirmative action. Abigail Hernstrom. An analyst with the Manhattan Institute a Public policy think tank in new York City said she thinks the concept of affirmative action As a program that searches for seriously qualified people is viable. A but it quickly turned into something else into accounting by race and third Fla. Slaying trial stalls in jury selection Pensacola Fla. A defense lawyers challenged the racial makeup of the jury Pool monday As the third trial got under Way of a teen Ager accused in the death of a British tourist who was shot at a Highway rest Stop. Two juries in two cities were unable to agree whether 18-year-old John a Billy Joe Crumitie participated in the murder. The result two mistrial and another change of venue for a third trial in one of a string of tourist killings that left Florida a fun in the Sun image in a shambles. The judge did no to immediately Rule on the defense Challenge to the jury Pool. Crumitie is Black of 50 prospective jurors Only five Are Black. Although jurors in Monticello and Gainesville deadlocked Over a verdict Margaret Jagger says she has no doubt about Crumitie a guilt. She. Was wounded and her longtime companion Gary Colley 34, died in the september 1993 shooting off interstate 10, about 35 Miles East of Tallahassee. The two had been travelling in a rental car. Glitches on endeavour slow launch of satellite space Center Houston apr endeavours astronauts dispatched a Saucer shaped experimental satellite monday but the electronics research by the spacecraft was delayed by communications problems. Astronaut James Newman mane vering the jointed shuttle Crane dangled the $25 million Wake shield facility Over the Side of endeavours cargo Bay while ground controllers conducted several hours of tests on the  receiving the go ahead from Mission control Newman hoisted the satellite High Over the cargo Bay and gently released it. A. The 12-foot steel disk which resembles a flying Saucer was then commanded from the ground to fire its own nitrogen thruster and slowly Back away from the shuttle As the two spacecraft flew 248 Miles Over Western Africa. A it looks real Good out the window a said shuttle commander David Walker. But the release came nearly two hours late because of the data communications problems with the satellite. And once the satellite was free there was More trouble. The radio link Between the Wake shield and shuttle continued to break up at times and the second of two satellite thruster firings did not go off As scheduled. That slowed Down the separation of Wake shield and endeavour. Eventually the 4,350-Pound steel satellite is supposed to Trail endeavour by up to 45 Miles until it is picked Back up on wednesday. By then it s supposed to Nave manufactured seven High Quality semiconductor films. Each wafer of film should end up being 3 inches in diameter and 1/looth the thickness of a human hair. Physicists expect the disk flying with its Broad Side Forward to create an Ultra clean vacuum in its Wake that should be Ideal for creating semiconductor film that is faster and less Power consuming than Silicon film now used in electronic equipment such As computers. Even in the re Active vacuum of space atomic oxygen and other particles can contaminate the delicate process. In the satellites Wake however the vacuum is sex Pecten to be up to 10,000 times purer than the Best Laboratory conditions on  cancer deaths Rise rapidly among women who smoke new York apr lung cancer death rates among women smokers soared sixfold from the 1960s to the 1980s, a new study found. It such deaths increased from 26 per 100,000 to 155 per 100,000, said one of the researchers. Or. Michael j. Thun of the american cancer society. During the same period the rate nearly doubled in men who smoke from 187 to 341. There was no increase in nonsmokers. Lung cancer has now surpassed heart disease As the leading cause of smoking related deaths among White Middle class smokers Thun said. The study by Thun and colleagues at the Emory University school of Public health appears in the september Issue of the american journal of Public health. The findings came from a comparison of two Large studies sponsored by the cancer society one from 1959-1965 and the other from 1982-1988. Heart disease death rates declined by 50 percent in both smokers and nonsmokers the researchers found